Album Review : Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
- Written by Joseph Rowan
Sunset Rubdown were one of those bands that I thought hadn't yet made an album that truly lived up to their potential. I liked, but not loved, both 2006's Shut Up I Am Dreaming and 2007's Random Spirit Lover, but would never count them amongst my favourite bands. Perhaps annoyingly talented front man Spencer Krug was spreading himself too thin through his involvement with Wolf Parade, Swan Lake, and others, I dunno. But once I had heard 'The Mending Of The Gown' off Random Spirit Lover, possibly one of my favourite tracks released this decade, I knew Sunset Rubdown could do great things. And, true to my suspicions, in Dragonslayer Krug has not only delivered the best album of the band's career to date, but indeed what is likely to be one of the great indie-rock releases of the year.
Everything about this album feels bigger, more sure of itself, more ambitious. Even the name is big and bold, and the right side of the rather precarious awesome/ridiculous line. The tracks average out to about six minutes long each and are filled with so much rich instrumentation, so many pure ideas that your first listen will probably be a bit of a blur, albeit a pretty impressive one. Dragonslayer probably isn't going to immediately grab you and become Your Favourite New Album of the year. At least, not right away. But it will worm itself into your subconscious.
Take, for instance, 'Idiot Heart' the lead single off the album. The first few times I listened to it, I accepted it as a nice sounding, if somewhat intriguing, bit of indie loveliness. But now I realise how wonderfully constructed it is; how wonderfully the opening wah-guitar segues into the ringing lead keyboard part, and how it ends in an enormous rush of an ending, in keeping with the epic scope of the record. And although it does tend to pile the instruments on - especially Krug's magnificent keyboard parts, which are spot on throughout, and Camilla Wynne Ingr's often sublime backing vocals (the "add up" refrain in 'You Go On Ahead…' is beautiful in its simplicity), it never feels overwhelming like similarly constructed albums can do.
Part of this is the multitudinous moods of the album. Opener 'Silver Moons' has a tinge of sorrowful regret reminiscent of standout cut from the debut album, 'Stadiums and Shrines II'. Similarly, one can detect a hint of mournfulness, or at least some kind of heartache, in Krug as he sings about just wanting to "follow you awhile" in the aforementioned 'You Go On Ahead', which through it's subtitle and lyrical themes, appears to be the sequel to Random Spirit Lover's 'Trumpet, Trumpet! Toot! Toot'. Even more surprising is 'Nightingale/December Song', which has an almost medieval feel to it, or at least the kind of music can imagine an epic poem being recited over, fitting for Krug's rather grandiose deliver, which occasionally strays close to nasal irritation but mostly stays on the side of heartfelt sincerity.
But when the album does let itself fully go, as in the squalling, feedback-laden, scattery percussion brilliance of 'Black Swan', as it alternates between oppressive broodiness and joyous rock excess, the effect is nothing less than astonishing. Naturally, this noisy highpoint is followed by the jauntier, more upbeat, calypso-tinged 'Paper Lace', just to keep us on our toes. Though the mood of the album is forever shifting with Krug's impressive storytelling, from uplifting to thoughtful via everything in between, the constant experimentation and breadth of vision is a comforting constant that prevents the album from feeling disjointed.
Of course, the album is not completely perfect. The charms of 'Apollo and the Buffalo and Anna Anna Anna Oh!' are buried even deeper than the rest of the album. It may be a grower but it's certainly the least immediate track on the album. Likewise, 'Dragon's Lair', despite its epic run time, is an oddly subdued end to the album that one expects to end with an enormous bang. Nevertheless, if ever an album was needed to restore one's faith in the lyrical and musical power of North American alternative rock, then Dragonslayer is the best album I've heard in a very long time to do just that. Seriously, if this record isn't seriously troubling the end-of-year lists in December then something has gone very wrong in the indie-rock community.